Wrightsville Beach pondering a skate park

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WWAY)– A group of skateboarders on Wrightsville Beach have been pushing the town for a skate park for quite some time. They are now one step closer as the Board of Aldermen decided Thursday night to allow them to work out details and further questions with the town staff.

Although that vote did not give the final okay to the park, it did have many people fired up at the Wrightsville Beach Town Hall.

“We’re a boarding community. From surfers, stand up paddle boarders, to skaters,” said Michael Carter, a Wrightsville Beach resident.

“I do not want to see Wrightsville Beach use its green space,” said resident Martha Chaffins.

Over a hundred people packed the town hall with the majority of them coming to speak about the proposed skate park.

The public park, which would be privately funded, sparked a good bit of debate.

“Skateboarding is really big. A lot of my friends do it,” said resident Fisher Hardee. “A lot of kids on the island do it and I feel like it would be very useful to them and useful to the future community.”

“An unsupervised park is extremely dangerous because children will do what children do,” said Chaffins.

There are many liabilities that need to be addressed such as supervision, safety, and insurance questions. The Aldermen voted 3 to 2 to take a better look at those questions and leave a final vote for a new board.

If passed there would be a lengthy construction phase only if or when over $200,000 is privately raised.

Leave a Reply

I completely agree. I have not once seen people using the other fields more than the skatepark. Kids love to skateboard, it gives them something positive to excel at. I think it’s a good investment.

0

| - Share

Guest461

2015 years 8 months ago

We have tennis courts, baseball fields, soccer fields and dog training runs, but nothing gets more use than the skateboard park! There are kids riding their boards on that thing from the first thing in the morning until the lights go out. It can be cold, hot, a little rain, sleet…it doesn’t matter…our future postmen in practice.

I think the only regret with that skatepark is that it should’ve been built bigger. The kids just have a blast on it!

0

| - Share

Guest 4252

2015 years 8 months ago

I live in Carolina Beach and have found the skate park there to be one of the best things ever for our youth. My son is 9 yrs old and has been skating there for the last 3 yrs. The older (loser) kids you talk about have been so welcoming, polite and helpful to my son in teaching him how to skate well and safely. Every Saturday morning there are about 20 young kids (under 7) skating with their dads and having the time of their lives, Dads included.
WB, you build that park and show your elders that you have what it takes to be good citizens.

0

| - Share

Guest vote yes

2015 years 8 months ago

Tell it to there parents!! It’s stems from them buddy, if these kids are such “losers” then there parents must real dirtbags! World needs ditch diggers too…

0

| - Share

Guest6979

2015 years 8 months ago

If you were to ask me 6 years ago I would have been in favor of a skate park. As of today my vote would be no way. The culture that skating has become over the last few years, though not that different from the past, is discusting to me. I have watched good kids in elementary and middle school become losers because they want to do nothing but skate and get high. I define losers as high school dropouts with no job, no goals, no plans for the future, and no way to support themselves. They are breading crime with drug use and mischef, not to mention the amount of grafetti that is going up all over town from skater kids. There are 2 skate parks now that are used only by a select few and the rest of the kids just skate where ever they want. Quite frankly I am tired of them and their disrespect for themselves. Take a shower get an education and stop being a drain on society.

0

| - Share

RPR

2015 years 8 months ago

Wow!! Skateboarding is the one thing a kid can do where it does not matter how much money you have, what color you are, what your gender is, or how good you are. If you skate and try your best, you are accepted. There are loser kids in all aspects of life, but to stereotype all skateboarders based on your perception is very narrow minded. I bet you were a lot different 6 years ago.

0

| - Share

Guest4787897

2015 years 8 months ago

So the cops can have more kids to harass? WB is a joke.. they are so unfriendly and snotty! A skate park…that will be the day!

0

| - Share

virgogirl

2015 years 8 months ago

Why don’t they consult with the Greenfield Lake skate park to find out all the details about security, safety etc.

0

| - Share

RPR

2015 years 8 months ago

All the money for the building of the skate park is privately raised. The maintenance and insurance cost are minimal and the green space area is a plot of sand that is the size of 2 tennis courts. Wrightsville Beach would get at free skate park for kids and adults to use, but the Aldermen needs to take a better look at those questions and leave a final vote for a new board? I wish they would wake up and realize that skate parks are the most use facility in any park. Talk about wasted green space, how often is the softball field use on a daily basis?

0

| - Share

Scott

2015 years 8 months ago

The Wrightsville beach police love harassing skateboarders, it must be included in their training. When I was a teenager I was ticketed in front of Surf City Surf Shop for skateboarding in the PARKING LOT of a business that sells skateboards. Ironic? WB is the local mecca for many board sports, yet the police don’t embrace the sports, they despise them.

A public skatepark will just give the cops a more efficient means of harassing skateboarders. I’m sure there will be a “full pad rule” which will be enforced by the WB Police Department. If someone isn’t wearing a helmet it will just give the cops a reason to walk into the skatepark and write them a citation. And what is this talk about a fence? Is the playground fenced in? What about the basketball court or the soccer field? Why does the skatepark need a fence? Look up government funded skateparks across the nation, most of them have no fences, fees, or cops patrolling… Yet all of them stay clean, because skateboarders have respect for their local skate parks. But they do not have respect for someone writing tickets and telling them what they can and cannot do in a skateboard facility.

I can’t help but notice that “bikes” have been mentioned multiple times in some of the write-ups about the park. Bikes, are you kidding me? Bikes RUIN skateparks. The metal pegs destroy the smooth concrete and have you ever seen a biker run into a kid on a skateboard? It always results in injury.

I could go on all day. A skatepark in Wrightsville Beach would be a dream come true for kids, until they realize that they are going to be patrolled by the same cops that harass and ticket them for skating through parking lots and down the sidewalks.

It took over 10 years to have the Greenfield Lake skatepark approved and funded. Just something to think about.

I hope the park gets built, and I hope the people making the rules take into consideration issues such as the ones I’ve just stated.

0

| - Share

anne

2015 years 8 months ago

I think they should give these kids a skate park – they need something constructive, instead of destructive to do with their time. Their should be stipulations and rules made:
for example: if you are caught with alcohol or drugs you are banned from the park; their should be adult supervision – perhaps some of the parents wanting this park could volunteer to help, and the police should make their presence known often.

The down side to it is it doesn’t matter how much good you try to do, there will always be the hoods and thugs who will try to mess it up for those who are doing good.

Your child can be on streets with the gangs or they can be enjoying themselves doing what they like. The community has a choice to make.

0

| - Share

RPR

2015 years 8 months ago

99.9% of all damage that is done at skate parks is done by non skaters. People who use the parks, care about them and police it themselves. I don’t think Wrightsville Beach would have any problems with hoods and thugs.